The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector and, more particularly, to a low-cost sealed connector particularly suited for rugged environmental applications, for example, on automotive vehicles, trucks or tractors.
There are presently available a number of environmentally sealed or waterproof connectors which are specially designed to prevent intrusion of moisture or other contaminants into the area of the connector containing the electrical contacts.
An example of one such connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,487 to Goodman et al. in which both the plug and the receptacle are formed of a unitary body of elastic pliant molded material in which the mating contacts are mounted. While the Goodman et al. connector has been successfully used for many environmentally applications for a number of years, in order to mount and remove the contacts from the plug and receptacle bodies, it is necessary to utilize a rather complex contact insertion apparatus as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,414 to Anderson. The use of such apparatus adds to the cost of assembly, and thus the cost of manufacture, of the connector and also requires that such apparatus be available in the field if rapairs are required there. Also, if substantial side loads are applied to the connector to cause cocking between the plug and receptacle, it is possible that the seal at the interface of the plug and receptacle may be impaired.
Other environmentally sealed connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,930,705; 3,937,545 and 4,214,802. The connectors disclosed in such patents have one or more disadvantages as, for example, high cost of manufacture, lack of stabilization in the latching arrangement which permits cocking of the plug and receptacle, lack of a positive latching of the plug and receptacle and difficulty in replacing the contacts in the connector bodies.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved environmentally sealed connector which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, is capable of maintaining a sealed connection even under severe environmental conditions, which allows the insertion and removal of contacts with the use of only a very simple tool, and provides a positive latching between the plug and receptacle which maintains the plug and receptacle in a stabilized condition that resists cocking of the plug and receptacle if side loads are applied thereto.